Recently Written
Categories
Sponsors
Recommended Links
Skinny Moose Media
SM Outdoor Blogs
Blogroll
Archives
Admin
May
13
Weather Rocks North Carolina
Filed Under Flora, Landscape, National Park, Turkey
I was in the mountains this past weekend and witnessed a wide array of weather and the power of Mother Nature. Storm cells rolled through much of the state brining severe thunderstorms, hail ( some the size of baseballs), high winds and tornadoes. North Carolina was not hit as bad as some of the other states across the Midwest and the Southeast where deaths and injuries and major property destruction were reported.
Monday morning on the back end of this front the temperatures dropped, in some of the higher elevations snow squalls were reported overnight, where we were in Boone NC we witnessed many trees and branches down along with traffic signs bent over by the strong wind. Wind gusts were being reported in excesses of 60 mph in Boone yesterday morning.
We had planned to do go up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Grandfather Mountain so I could do some photography work. The Blue Ridge Parkway was littered with limbs and shredded leaves not unlike what an area looks like after a hurricane rolls through. The wind was pretty strong and at times I had difficulty just standing up when some of the stronger gusts hit.
We stopped at one of the visitor centers on the parkway and the outside thermometer read 30’ a bit cool even for the mountains this time of the year. I’m sure the wind chill made it felt closer to 0’F.
We arrived at Grandfather Mountain to discover it was closed but hopefully parts of it would be opening latter in the day. Talking with Grandfather Mountain staff the conditions on the summit was bad with 100 mph wind and numerous trees down all over the mountain blocking roads, buildings and trails. With only the morning free we returned to the Blue Ridge Parkway and continued our exploring there. We did find some turkeys working a field that was blocked from the winds.
Once back in Boone we had a lunch meeting to attend and as we sat there I couldn’t help but notice as the clouds broke up and the sun beamed down how beautiful a day it was turning out to be. We had to return to Raleigh so I ride back was much like Saturdays ride with lots of sunshine. Hopefully I’ll get up on Grandfather Mountain one of these days when it’s not so crowded like it is in the height of the tourist season.
Story & Photos by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose
[...] Mick wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWind gusts were being reported in excesses of 60 mph in Boone yesterday morning. We had planned to do go up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Grandfather Mountain so I could do some photography work. The Blue Ridge Parkway was littered with … [...]
[...] weekend and witnessed a wide array of weather and the power of Mother Nature.? Storm cells rollehttp://skinnymoose.com/wildamerica/2008/05/13/weather-rocks-north-carolina/Gusts play havoc Watauga DemocratGrandfather mountain suffered damage from high winds over the last [...]
Moose as usual those are some nice pictures. I don’t exactly know why but I really like that first picture.
Hey Rick,
I was on top of a ridge with a huge drop off and it was amazing to see the wind catch the fog in the valley below and whip it up and over the top of the ridge. That was one such cloud of fog covering over the trees as it blew out. A pretty site even if the weather wasn’t the best.
Thanks again for stopping by
-Moose-